One word from each of those initialisms lurked somewhere in the grid: TEST from SAT, HEALTH from WHO, REST from R.I.P., EARNED from ERA, ENERGY from DOE, and SERVICE from UPS. Those spell out, appropriately, the Yahtzee category THREES.

Peter Gordon writes:
SAT no longer stands for anything. Fictitious is misspelled in 21D. Fix for the book. –Peter (author of “Yahtzee Scratch & Play” and “Yahtzee Scratch & Play to Go!”)

Apologies for “ficticious” — I had “fictitious” and it looked ridiculous so I changed it.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen randomly from the 117 correct entries received, is R.C. In addition to a MGWCC pen, pencil and notepad set, R.C. will also receive a copy of my new book Bite-Size Crosswords.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a bygone, ten-letter place name. Submit your answer in the form on the left sidebar by WEDNESDAY at noon ET (Note extra day). Note: the submissions form disappears from the site promptly at noon on Wednesday.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (2,086 members now!) here.

To enter, use the form below by noon Eastern time each Tuesday (see the FAQ for more details). One winner selected at random will receive an autographed copy of any book written by Matt Gaffney. Monthly pen, pencil and notepad prizes also awarded (see FAQ).